


Peculiar

by Magnolie



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-11
Updated: 2014-01-18
Packaged: 2018-01-08 10:06:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1131361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magnolie/pseuds/Magnolie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She had never thought she would find him alive after the battle that killed his uncle. But he is, and she will not let him die.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Upwards

 

* * *

 

 

“Have yah seen tha’ peculiar pair up da hill?”

“In da old cottage yah mean?”

“Yah, ‘eres been some fire in ‘ere and then ah’ve seen ‘em.”

“Ther’s more n more weird folk commin’ from the east now. Since 'em dwarfs have slain them dragon, there’s sumfin in the air, sumfin bad.”

“Nah, ah think they ‘ont stay fo too long up ‘ere. No one’s been livin’ up ‘ere fo ages, the whole place’s fallin apart.”

“I give’em a moon and they’re out ‘ere.”

“Yah, yah.”


	2. into

**Chapter 2**

* * *

 

The landscape had turned into nothing but decay. An almost unbearable foul smell filled the air, the evaporations of blood and death mixing in. Every breath hurt. She stood knee deep in bodies and mud, the remains of the battle. Nothing but rags still clung to her body, her face a mess, scratches and dirt covering it. Next to her, her loyal stallion huffed as he tried to make her stop, tired from the fight as well. But she could not stop, could not give up. She had to find him.

They had told her that there was no hope, that they had searched the battlefield at least a dozen times for survivors and the heirs of the throne of Durin. They had found Thorin, dead, they had found Fili, barely alive but not dead yet. But they had not found Kili. Missing in battle was what they had called it. That there was maybe not enough left of him to find, that among the thousands of bodies they would not find him. But she would not give up. She had thousands of years ahead of herself and if she had to spend them without him she at least wanted to bury him with the skies and the clouds and the stars and the beautiful moon above him. Tears came to her eyes.  
She would find him. And if it took days or weeks, she would not give up before she had him. But there was no hope she would find him alive.

  
As the evening arrived and the first stars shone upon her, she was close to giving up. Her feet hurt, the wound on her left side had opened again, she was bleeding and tired. _So be it then_ , she thought, patting her stallion, _I could just lie down and die here as well and die close to him, there is nothing more to desire for me on this earth_. She sank down to her knees, resting for a moment and collecting herself. The air was cooling and she started to freeze. She was tired. Oh so tired.

She let her eyes wander, she had seen death. But she had never seen a massacre like this, red and black and hopeless. Just as she wanted to close her eyes from it, she caught something unusual round and black in the hand of someone or something, buried beneath a staple of bodies. Already on her knees, she crawled over and took it in her hands. She could not read the runes, but she first did not trust her own eyesight. She had held this stone once before and looked at it very closely, it was Kili’s, and it felt and looked just as his had. Her glare went down to the hand she took it from and she recognized his armor. Tears came to her eyes as she moved the first body, then the second. She was close to breaking out into tears when she moved the last dirt and body parts away from him, but her pulse kept her going, she was almost hyperventilating.  
And then he lay before her. Eyes closed, looking away from her, covered in dirt and blood. She closed her eyes and spoke a silent prayer before she lovingly touched his cheek. He looked so peaceful now that it was over. Hopefully, death came fast and unseen. She would never know until her time was over and she would meet him again.  
She had hoped to feel relief, but she didn’t. All she felt was grief.

As she looked up from him after a while, she saw some dwarfs in the distance, _looking for dead kin or survivors_ , she thought.

“I’ll bring you back to your brother.” She took his hand in hers and kissed it.

And then it happened. At first, it was just a light pressure she felt, nothing more than a hallucination, as if he had squeezed her hand, but then, all of a sudden, he coughed and moved.  
Her eyes widened. Was she dreaming? Was this real?

“Kili!” she shouted.

He coughed again, louder this time, saying her time in between coughs. And then he opened his eyes.

“-knew ya’d come ‘n find me. Can’t live without me no more, can ya?” He whispered and grinned cockily and took a deep breath.

“You’re alive-” she breathed.

He coughed again.

“I’m fine. Just-“ he tried to get up but he greatly failed.

“Stay down, I’m going to find help.” She said, pressing him down and looking in the direction of the dwarfs, ready to get up and run towards them. All fatigue was gone.

“No, no don’t!” His cheeky expression had turned into mere horror within seconds, “Don’t leave me Tauriel, please I beg you!”

“You need help.” She sat down again.

“I have all the help I need.” He smiled and she caressed his cheek.

“Ya look awful.”

“Says the dwarf who is covered in mud and blood.” Only now some tears finally escaped her eyes in relieve and joy. He was alive. She could not believe it! She sobbed.

“Why are ya crying?” He asked.

She sobbed and laughed, as if he had made a joke.

“I did not dare to believe I would find you alive.”

He was strong enough to raise one arm and took one of her red strains of hair into his hand. Then his face turned earnest.

“I asked you something, that night, the night you saved me from the arrow.”

She nodded.

“You remember?”

She nodded again.

“You owe me an answer.”

She swallowed another tear and put her hand before her mouth, almost smiling.

“Yes, yes of course. Why do you even ask, you silly dwarf?” She kissed his hand.

He laughed, silently but joyfully and filled with happiness.

 

“Please, let me get someone to bring you to a healer.” She said after they had sat and smiled in silence for a while.

“No,” he said, “I have every healer I need.”

“But I can’t help you on a battlefield.”

“Then take me away.”

“Kili-“

“No, I’m serious. Take me away. Some other place.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Take me away on your horse.”

“Kili, the king beneath the mountain is dead, your brother might die what-“

“Stop.”

She saw tears claiming his eyes. He turned his head.

“Don’t say anything, just please, please take me away.” He begged her silently.

“But your wounds-“

“Tauriel.”

A single tear escaped his left eye and she knew she did not stand a chance to convince him.

“Can you stand up?”

She carefully helped him to sit up. He was dirty, yes, but at first glance she couldn’t see and serious wounds. She checked his upper body to be sure, before she carefully lift him up. She heard him howl but the look he gave her prevented her from asking about his well-being and lying down again. She somehow maneuvered him on top of the horse; he almost could not sit up, but somehow they managed. As he sat, she mounted the stallion behind him and the horse shifted nervously.

When the stallion turned around, they took a last glance at the camps.  
Muffled sounds in the distance. And metallic smell. And fire.

“Go.” He said tiredly and leaned into her.

And she did.

 


	3. the

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huh, here we go. I'm actually proud because I just finished the story and I will upload the last 'chapter' in a few days as well. Enjoy!

He woke from a sunbeam that was tickling his nose. _No_ , it actually wasn’t a sunbeam since light does not have the ability to tickle people, or elves or dwarfs, - it was some dusts that had found a nice place to sleep on his nose and once breathed in, wanted to escape him again quickly. He squirmed a little as he felt how his right side hurt. He couldn’t remember much. There was a battle, screams were still incarcerated in his ears, the sounds of swords cutting people in half was burned into his flesh and the smell of blood still lingered in his nose. He felt tired though it was not the sort of tiredness you would feel after a long day of walking or fighting, it was fatigue.

He wanted to go back to sleep and never be bothered again, and so he did.

The next time he woke he felt someone by his side, touching his abdomen, doing something with the wound that had hurt the last time he had woken. Soft hands were carefully applying some sort of oil or balsam to it. She was humming silently.

“Tauriel?” He asked softly, eyes closed.

“Don’t move,” she said, “it is still very early.”

He didn’t answer. And he didn’t answer when she came the next time, doing it again or the next time when she came to him or the next time. He woke every time, enjoying her gentle caressing but drifting away again and again before she ever knew he was awake. He was captured in a hazy state of dream, a dark, grey world with no end and no beginning, where time did not matter and certainly not ever passed. He could never remember a single dream when he awoke and he didn’t know whether to be grateful or sad about that. He decided not to think much about it and spend his waking moments enjoying Tauriel by his side, always carefully examining his wound and abdomen and applying whatever smelling plant that was. One time, shortly before he really woke for the first time, he even had to be careful to not enjoy it too much, but her hands were so soft and her breathing so sweet… he had almost no control over any of his body parts, so he was glad he drifted away before a major amount of blood could decide to assemble between his legs.

Eventually, he was not sure how much time had passed since he had first opened his eyes. It must have been days because his side did not hurt so much anymore and he felt as if he had slept for a century. His mind was clearer now, no screams, no blood, no mud. He took a deep, relieved breath. It had not been his body that had needed the rest, but his mind.

Carefully he now opened his eyes. His surroundings were dark and shadowy, though it was bright day. From where he was lying, he could directly see a window covered with thin, blue curtains. They did not exactly prevent much light from coming in but whatever room he was inside of d, it only had this window and another one on the opposite side. As he carefully sat up, he realized that he was bedded on a mattress. Not the most comfortable thing he had ever slept on, but definitely an improvement to a year of sleeping outside in the wilderness.

Next to the bed was a small table and next to the door a wooden cupboard with a candle and a small mirror on top of it. Where was he?

Carefully, he put his feet down on the floor; he was still wearing his trousers, though his abdomen was only covered with linen due to the stinging wound on his right. He hurt, but walking was definitely doable. Kili carefully limbed towards the door, pushing it open at once. Before him lay a chamber about three times as big as the room he had slept in. There was a small stove in one corner, along with some more cupboards and a chest. Before them, there was a table with three chairs that had seen better days but still looked as if one could sit on them. The other corner of the room held a small fireplace and two, old and dusty armchairs and a small table. He carefully made his way hand over hand through the room to the one thing that promised answers: the door leading outside.

The sun was warm on his skin und it blinded him as he took his first look. Next to the cottage was a small shed and he could see the black head of Tauriel’s stallion inside. Before him stretched a vast, green land with only few trees scattered across it; in the far east he could see light blue mountains and in the west, though it must have been miles, a river and a small village. He held himself in the doorframe until his view became completely clear. A bird was humming in a tree.

“You’re not supposed to get up yet!” He heard a caring voice coming from his right.

It was her. Though she did not look like her. Was he dreaming?

Tauriel wore only her evergreen trousers and shirt, though no armor and her hair was in a long braid, hanging loosely over her right shoulder. In her left hand she carried three dead rabbits along with her bow. Her face looked different too. Soft and waken not stern and concerned.

“What ‘append?” he asked as she came closer and let the rabbits sink on the small bench attached to the house front he had not spotted earlier.

“How much do you remember?”

“Na’ much. ‘ere was… the battle and then… then you found me.”

“Do you remember what you asked me to do?”

He nodded. And she sat down on the bench.

“We rode two days I’m sure. I don’t even know how Bleackleaf did it but we rode and rode only stopping once or twice so I could check on you and he could rest and drink. But I was so exhausted and tired and when the morning came I saw this house. I wanted to ask the owner if we could stop for a night and sleep in the shed, but nobody was home, it was completely abandoned and dust was everywhere. I put you on the bed and… well I had to look at your wound at some time…”

“Don’t yah worry,” he said, “just make sure Ima ‘wake next time ye strip me.”

She raised her brow and he smirked.

“Already up for jokes again, are we? And I was worried you might hurt yourself when you get up.”

“Nah . I’m good.”

“You slept for five days, our ride not included I don’t know how well you are.”

“Five days?”

“Yes, I first stayed with you but when the wound started to get infected I had to go to find oakleaves and clear water. So I went out and from that day on I tried to make the place look a little… friendlier. I had to do something. Sitting next to you… _worrying_ … made me crazy.”

He looked at her for a long time.

“Who owns it?”

“I don’t know”, she looked around; “There is a little village down by the river. I went to a salesman who told me no one has ever lived up here for all his born days.”

Kili looked at her again. Her glance had shifted to the river, down in the west.

“Why did you clean up? I mean, it looks pretty decent now. It must have been a lot of work”

He did not get an answer right away, Tauriel first did not look at him, then she looked down and then away again.

“I thought”, she paused, “when I found you in the mud, I thought you were dead. And when you woke and asked me to take you away, I was sure I would, once you had healed, have to bring you back to your brother. But-“, she looked at him, “I needed to do something and in case, healing would take longer or you decided not to… go back-“

He didn’t let her finish her sentence. He couldn’t, he couldn’t bear seeing her like this, in distress and feeling guilty for hoping they would spend enough time together to appreciate what she had done. _For him to stay with her._ So he took her face in both his hands and pulled her towards him. He lips were soft and warm and sweet from an apple she must have eaten on her hunt. He was so grateful. What she had no words for - he understood as a gift from above: she had started to make this place their own, for them to live in for the rest of time if possible.

He felt how her small hand touched his right arm carefully and how she leaned further into him until the parted, foreheads attached.

“Yes.”

“Yes what?” she silently asked.

“I will stay with you, if you’ll have me.” He smiled and opened his eyes.

Her genuine laugh was the sweetest thing he had ever heard in his life. He maybe could not take her to the mountain and make her his princess and he maybe could not be with her for every dwarf and elf to see. But he could be with her here, in the small, old cottage she had started to dust and he would bring to full beauty again once he had regained his strength.

He kissed her again, more passionately this time, opening her lips with his tongue; it was as if it all fitted perfectly.

“Hush now,” she broke the kiss as they were close to falling from the bench, “I will not let you open that wound again by some desires you should spare me with until you can walk straight again.” She was laughing and he joined her, lovingly touching her cheek. Forever was beginning.

  

_And no story was ever told about the elf-maiden and the dwarf prince, which had died in the Battle of the Five Armies. No story, except this one._


	4. starry sky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, I coudln't wait. Here you go.

 

_Down by the river,_   
_there sits a little bird,_   
_humming in the wind,_   
_and never being stirred._

_The world will turn,_   
_and the world will stare_   
_but down by the river,_   
_the tiny bird will sit,_   
_and hum his joyful song._

 

Her words turned into humming as the small bundle in her lap closed her eyes and sunk into a fast sleep. It was bright day, but she preferred to fall asleep in her lab whenever the afternoon sun shone softly on their hill. Carefully, she caressed her curly, black hair and her small, pointy ears.

Behind them, by the cottage, the horses were silently huffing and one of their cows mooed. A summer scent filled the air. _It will not darken for a few hours_ ; she thought and watched how a white dandelion turned into a million little stars above the grass, taken away by the wind.

As she looked up from the little bundle in her lap and down the hill to the village, she saw a small figure approaching their land. Tauriel smiled.

Kili was coming home from work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea of ths story was to explain why we have never heard of a dwarf and and elf, loving each other before Legolas and Gimli. And of course I wanted to provide a Happy Ending for the Battle of the Five Armies. Maybe we are lucky, maybe we're not - but this will always be my ending of their story :)


End file.
